Free Woman, you will always cherish the sea!

No Scrubs

Does anyone remember the TLC song “No scrubs”? What a good song that was. But this post is not about those kinds of scrubs. This post is about the scrubs the nurses use and which I hope not to see again any time soon.

Day 4 of my cold and although I am in much better shape, the fever keeps on coming and going. Adding the fact that I generally dislike pills does not help my situation but let’s hope tomorrow I will wake up feeling even better.

So what happens when a crew member gets sick onboard? And here I am only referring to common sickness such as a cold, flu etc. No, we don’t get sent home to have some home-made soup (although what I wouldn’t give for some of that soup right now). When and if we get a cold we visit the medical facility, same as our guests, with the only difference that for us the service is complimentary but we might have to wait longer as our guests come first. Depending on the size of the ship there are several nurses and doctors available. My ship currently has 2 doctors and 3 nurses.

Once we get there we get checked by one of the nurses first and then we wait to see the doctor to diagnose and prescribe us a treatment. For common colds, we usually get at least one day off duty to rest. For cases of influenza well, that gets a bit complicated and the crew member can be isolated for up to 7 days in the cabin. Although you might think that is fun, don’t imagine that cabin to be a penthouse and not to mention, how many movies can one watch per day!?

For my cold I got day one off duty and barely moved around on day two but managed. I had to since it was our turnaround day and so much to do. This is my first cold of the year and I think was one of the worst in the last few years. My entire body hurt and could barely hold my cup of tea in hand. Is ironic how just a few days before I was lifting weights at the gym.

I hope that none of you gets to visit the medical facility onboard any time soon and especially not during your vacation. But, life happens regardless if you are in vacation or not so it is good to know that onboard our cruise ships there are medical resources and people that can take care of you if needed.

Oh and not to forget the most important thing – the medical staff are the ones with the red stripes! You can thank me later!